Associating Zones With A Program; Setting Up Soil Moisture Sensor Based Watering - Base Line BaseStation 3200 User Manual

Associating Zones with a Program

In your landscape, you probably have zones that need to be watered every day (such as those that water turf
areas) and other zones that need to be watered less frequently (such as shrub borders). In order to manage these
different watering schedules, it is best to create separate programs for the turf and the shrubs and then associate
the appropriate program with the zones that water the specific landscape area.
Prerequisites
•
The zones have been correctly assigned in the controller.
•
You know the numbers of the zones that water the specific landscape areas.
1. Turn the dial to the Zone Water Times position.
2. Press the + or – button to select the zone that you want to associate with a program.
3. Press the NEXT button to move to the Program/ML1 field.
4. Press the + or – button to select the program that you want the zone to be associated with.
5. Repeat steps 2 – 4 to associate all zones with a specific program.
6. When you have finished making changes, turn the dial to the Auto Run position.

Setting Up Soil Moisture Sensor Based Watering

You can take the guesswork out of your watering decisions by setting up soil moisture sensor based watering. The
biSensor measures soil moisture where the plants need it – at the root level.
When you have a biSensor installed, the BaseStation 3200 enables you to set up one of the following water
strategies:
•
Timed – Waters without biSensor control, but provides a log of daily moisture levels.
Note: Be sure to use the Timed water strategy with new grass. After the root zone is established, you can
change to one of the other strategies.
• Lower Limit – Prevents watering until the moisture level drops below the limit, and then a full water cycle will
run. The user sets and manages the limit.
•
Lower Limit Auto – Waters the same as Lower Limit, but the controller sets and manages the limit. The user
can set an adjustment factor if desired.
• Upper Limit – Allows watering at each start time, but the run time is adjusted to replenish the moisture to
field capacity. The user sets and manages the limit.
Make sure that you have soak cycles properly set up for the zones that will be using soil moisture based

watering. In addition to allowing the applied water to soak into the soil, soak cycles allow time for the
water to reach the biSensor depth so the soil moisture readings are accurate. Refer to Using Soak Cycles
on page 46.
• Upper Limit Auto – Waters the same as Upper Limit, but the controller sets and manages the limit. The user
can set an adjustment factor if desired.
BaseStation 3200 Advanced Irrigation Controller Manual
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